Archive for February 27, 2011

I’m a sucker for the rewards that companies offer for buying their products. As soon as my husband walks in the door with a new 12 pack of diet Coke, he knows to rip off the cardboard coke rewards number and lay it next to my computer. He does the same thing with all sorts of other products.

He knows to store the caps on some products and to cut the UPC symbols off of others. While he thinks this is all a bit crazy he happily follows along with my schemes and smiles each time he hands over a code.

While it can take an extremely long time to rack enough points to earn something of value it really doesn’t take much effort to set aside the various product codes or to enter them online.

Over the years I’ve received a variety of free magazine subscriptions, gift cards, store discounts and even camping equipment as a result of participating. In fact, last year two of my husband’s Christmas gifts came from rewards programs.

In an ideal world my husband wouldn’t drink diet Coke, (I don’t think it’s the best thing in the world for him), but if he’s going to drink all that soda we might as well earn some rewards for doing so.

My favorite programs are Coke, Tropicana and Pampers. I participate in the Pampers program even though I don’t have a child. I used to make diaper cakes for various baby showers and I entered the codes from the diapers I purchased. If I earned enough points to get a reward I would add that reward as a gift for the next shower.

Do you participate in any reward programs? If so, which ones are your favorite. If not, why not? Is it just not worth your time?